Congratulations to the Winnners of this round of the Willowy Goodness Awards!

[red_satin_doll]

What it says on the tin - but the tin doesn't say it all. Several folks I am tremendously proud to call friends are amoung this years winners: Gabrielle (velvetwhip), snogged, spikesredqueen, rua1412, dragonyphoenix, snickfic, snowpuppies, brutti_ma_buoni, punch_kicker15. I am so proud and pleased to not only call these folks my friends, but to know that good work is being recognized and honored. It gives one hope. Congratulations to all the winners and a big round of applause to dragonydreams for running the awards year-in, year-out.

Any of of the stories on the winners and nominee list by the abovenamed authors would be well worth your time. Yes, yes I am biased: velvetwhip's "Civilian" and "In The Shadow of the Dead", snowpuppies "Memory" and "Try", punch_kicker15's "Truly Missed the Boat" , brutti_ma_buoni's "A Half-Formed Thing", snogged's "Passion (Rules Us All)", and...well I'll leave you to discover your own personal favorites. Don't forget to check out the nominees list as well!

Most of these categories were difficult to vote in (I had a few favorites, of course) but few more so than the art category ("Best Photo Manipulation or Layout".)  How in the WORLD to choose between spikesredqueen's heartbreaking WIld at Heart - Animal Way and rua1412's lush, wildly sensual Willow/Angel banner? I came very close to asking dragonydreams "Do you allow tie votes, pretty please? Can't I chose both?"

Comments

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. I'd forgotten I was even nominated. And congrats on your wins.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh you mean the icons? thanks very much, m'dear!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Ooops. I mean, go you for the icons, but I was thinking you were snogged over here. Not sure why other than I went for far too long a walk today and am feeling rather worn out now.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, you too? Yesterday (Sunday) my sweetie and I went for a walk in a land preserve that we'd never been to before and managed to get ourselves hopeless lost. A 30-40 minute walk ended up lasting an hour and a half. And we had water on us but no snacks (and we're usually so well-prepared on our walks)

The burger I had afterwards never tasted so good *lol*

I hope you're feeling a bit more rested today?

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is I go there all the time. The parking lot by the visitor's center was full so I went to the lot by the nature center. I've only parked there a few times and it's been over a year. I'd meant to walk down to the pond and walk upriver from there. I ended up at the visitor's center (down river) and walked upriver from there. Once I found the pond, I'd already walked further than I usually do but by then I'd made up my mind that I was walking from the pond so I kept going. Also, the path I usually take has a number of places to stop and sit. The paths I was on yesterday had fewer and they were mostly already being used.

I soaked in the tub last night but my feet are still a little sore. And yet I'm going back out again, not to that park but to an arboretum, because I don't want to miss the cherry blossoms. ;-)

I am feeling more rested. I basically came home and read fanfic all evening.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I basically came home and read fanfic all evening.

And I came home and made banners and icons *lol* but I have SO much reading to catch up on!

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I have tons of fanfic to read. I've been running across all kinds of recs lately.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

And I will NOT confess that your Giles as the big bad fic is among those I am hideously horribly behind on reading. Nope, you did not hear me say that. Nor pretty much all of spuffy_luvr's fics, nor this one that I lost because it was bookmarked on my old computer, a rewrite of S5 in which Giles and Joyce are an actual item (the angst! the angst! why didn't Joss think of that?) or a rewrite of S7 WIP.....

the list goes on.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

And I won't confess that I'm hideously behind on posting Giles as the Big Bad. ;-)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Good, because I didn't just read that.
*LMAO*

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

a rewrite of S5 in which Giles and Joyce are an actual item: Ooooh!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I popped in at the chapter where Joyce has been diagnosed with cancer and Giles is talking to Buffy and internally distressed about losing the woman he loves (again) and the prose looked lovely and I thought oh Joss why the HELL didn't you do this on the show (but I shipped Joyce and Giles anyway) and my bookmark was lost when the old computer was crispy fried .

If I find it again I WILL share the link, hon.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Thanks. You could try asking here. Even though it's called Seeking Spike, it's for any BtVS and AtS stories.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks sweetie I'll give that a try!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, hunny.
*squishes*

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You've very welcome, dear!
*giggles*

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am so flattered that you think so well of my stories. I don't think you know how much it means to me. THANK YOU.


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I do, actually, because the fact that you think so highly of my artwork means the world to me. ;D

[rua1412.livejournal.com]

Ehehehehe
welcome in my world! I often find hard to chose among fanart or fics in the voting polls :)

Thank you!!!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, that banner is a gorgeous thing and I somehow managed to miss seeing it until it was a nominee. (That's really the best thing about these awards IMO).

I often find hard to chose among fanart or fics in the voting polls :)

Apparently you've never heard me whine about how impossible it is to vote in icon tests? :P

Sometimes I don't find it hard to choose at all, but one doesn't like to admit that.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Mwah! Thank you!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome, sweetie!

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about how difficult it was to choose just one to vote for in many of the categories! Thanks so much for the shout-out.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome hon! I'd love to see more Willow and Buffy tics from you (shippy and/or friendship) if you're so moved.

Something I find extremely challenging with fic contests is choosing between stories that are very very different in length, style etc. For ex: Trying to choose between a multi-chapter story that has less exquisite prose but a plot to sustain; vs a much shorter fic that doesn't have a plot but is entirely concerned with characterization and precision of language. Apples to oranges.

I understand now why some fic contests break down categories very strictly by length of story.

Whereas in icontests, it's two or more icons, same size, same shape, same purpose. Apples to apples. (And I still agonize anyway.)